God's amazing work in New Brunswick
The following is an amazing personal testimony of what God can do through you, if you're one of His children, and you're willing to let Him do His work through your life. Sorry, no politics today folks. ;-)
My wife and I had the blessing of working with Dave Storey and his family during the summer of 2004. If you've ever wondered about my occasional references to having lived in Fredericton a few years back, this guy is pretty much the sole (soul?) reason why we went out there.
To make a long story short, this video on Dave Storey and the work God is doing through him was recently done by the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. Take a look at this amazing testimony of God's mighty hand at work.
I had the blessing of crossing Dave's path through Luke, a friend of mine who'd moved to Ontario. Anyway, my wife and I headed out with Luke and his girlfriend to NB for a weekend in March of 2004, and met Dave and his wife Lisa then. We immediately felt right at home with them, and connected on a spiritual level in a way that doesn't happen very often.
Dave is a very Godly man, and when he earnestly prays about something, don't be surprised to see it come to pass. Of course I didn't know him all that well back then, but by the end of the weekend, Dave said to us in all seriousness, "You know what? I'm praying that God would bring you guys out here to Fredericton, to join and help out our church here." My response was, "If that's what the Lord wants to happen, then His will be done."
So you know what happened next, right? If you're a true Bible believing Christian, I'm sure you know there's no such thing as a coincidence. You see, God was already at work, answering Dave's prayer. Within about two weeks, I was informed at work that my position was going to be outsourced at the end of April, and that I'd be given a severance package for several months. And do you happen to know who called us the very same evening that we got the news? (remember... there's no such thing as a coincidence) None other than Dave Storey, who opened the conversation something like this... "You guys know what? We're still praying here that the Lord would bring you guys out to Fredericton." And my wife's response earlier that day to the news of me losing my job had been just three words... "So, New Brunswick?"
So, you guessed it... our U-Haul truck was packed on April 30th, and we were on the road to Fredericton, New Brunswick. Without going into all the details, it was during the time we had out there, through much prayer and seeking of the Lord, that Dave and his family heard the call from God for them to move up to Doaktown. Things worked out perfectly for us, as our landlord had just advised us that they'd sold the house we were living in, and we had to move out by the end of the month! So we moved on back to Ontario, where a little while later, the Lord moved several families from our old church (to which we'd returned) to start a new church in another local city, where we now reside in happy fellowship.
Our God is truly an amazing God. And He can do amazing things through you... if you let Him. The video above is an amazing testimony to that fact. Though our time in New Brunswick was short, and didn't appear from a worldly perspective to have had any significant impact for the Kingdom of God, it turned out to be a small part in an amazing work that God was doing. But you couldn't necessarily see that at first if you weren't looking at it from God's perspective. You see, He had BIGGER things in mind, and an ETERNAL perspective on everything, when He chose to send Dave and his family to Doaktown. And He moved in the lives of various individuals, not just ours, spread out over thousands of kilometres, to set the wheels of His plan in motion months in advance.
It's just an awe inspiring blessing to see what God has done through our finite and seemingly insignificant contributions to His Kingdom. Just do what He's asked you to do... no matter how small it may seem to you. Because you just never know what He has in store.
My wife and I had the blessing of working with Dave Storey and his family during the summer of 2004. If you've ever wondered about my occasional references to having lived in Fredericton a few years back, this guy is pretty much the sole (soul?) reason why we went out there.
To make a long story short, this video on Dave Storey and the work God is doing through him was recently done by the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. Take a look at this amazing testimony of God's mighty hand at work.
I had the blessing of crossing Dave's path through Luke, a friend of mine who'd moved to Ontario. Anyway, my wife and I headed out with Luke and his girlfriend to NB for a weekend in March of 2004, and met Dave and his wife Lisa then. We immediately felt right at home with them, and connected on a spiritual level in a way that doesn't happen very often.
Dave is a very Godly man, and when he earnestly prays about something, don't be surprised to see it come to pass. Of course I didn't know him all that well back then, but by the end of the weekend, Dave said to us in all seriousness, "You know what? I'm praying that God would bring you guys out here to Fredericton, to join and help out our church here." My response was, "If that's what the Lord wants to happen, then His will be done."
So you know what happened next, right? If you're a true Bible believing Christian, I'm sure you know there's no such thing as a coincidence. You see, God was already at work, answering Dave's prayer. Within about two weeks, I was informed at work that my position was going to be outsourced at the end of April, and that I'd be given a severance package for several months. And do you happen to know who called us the very same evening that we got the news? (remember... there's no such thing as a coincidence) None other than Dave Storey, who opened the conversation something like this... "You guys know what? We're still praying here that the Lord would bring you guys out to Fredericton." And my wife's response earlier that day to the news of me losing my job had been just three words... "So, New Brunswick?"
So, you guessed it... our U-Haul truck was packed on April 30th, and we were on the road to Fredericton, New Brunswick. Without going into all the details, it was during the time we had out there, through much prayer and seeking of the Lord, that Dave and his family heard the call from God for them to move up to Doaktown. Things worked out perfectly for us, as our landlord had just advised us that they'd sold the house we were living in, and we had to move out by the end of the month! So we moved on back to Ontario, where a little while later, the Lord moved several families from our old church (to which we'd returned) to start a new church in another local city, where we now reside in happy fellowship.
Our God is truly an amazing God. And He can do amazing things through you... if you let Him. The video above is an amazing testimony to that fact. Though our time in New Brunswick was short, and didn't appear from a worldly perspective to have had any significant impact for the Kingdom of God, it turned out to be a small part in an amazing work that God was doing. But you couldn't necessarily see that at first if you weren't looking at it from God's perspective. You see, He had BIGGER things in mind, and an ETERNAL perspective on everything, when He chose to send Dave and his family to Doaktown. And He moved in the lives of various individuals, not just ours, spread out over thousands of kilometres, to set the wheels of His plan in motion months in advance.
It's just an awe inspiring blessing to see what God has done through our finite and seemingly insignificant contributions to His Kingdom. Just do what He's asked you to do... no matter how small it may seem to you. Because you just never know what He has in store.
Labels: Christianity, The Lord Jesus Christ
posted by Christian Conservative @ 9:56 p.m.
13 Comments:
At Sat Mar 06, 11:19:00 p.m. EST,
Anonymous said…
So besides getting people to join the church, what has he done?
At Sat Mar 06, 11:48:00 p.m. EST,
Anon1152 said…
"[N]ow almost 20% of Doaktown's population are new believers."
OK. I'll admit it. That is pretty amazing.
Normally I am embarrassed to ask people about things like this (and probably still am) but, since I am only responding to your post... I do have a couple of questions.
1. He started by writing down "a list of lost people." Were these people he knew from before? How does one come up with such a list?
2. "Witnessing." I usually think of that as something a person does, but as an action or experience that happens to them...
Here it seems to be a process that one person can do to another. A process that one does to change another (as opposed to just observing the other).
How does that work exactly? (If I just need to be directed to the right dictionary, please let me know. For example, I thought the phrase "disciples to disciple to" sounded wrong, but I did look up the word and now know that "disciple" can be used as a verb...
At Sun Mar 07, 08:39:00 a.m. EST,
Christian Conservative said…
First Anonymous, he's not gotten people to "join the church", he's "lead" them to a saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ... so much so, that the lives of many of them have been completely transformed. Sins forgiven, people's attitudes and even personalities reformed, all for the better. Crime is down, as the ranks of the local "criminal element" are reduced through several becoming Christians. Dave's even been getting threatening 2am phone calls from the local drug dealers... because business is down as people are getting off drugs when they're getting saved, and the dealers are blaming him!!!
Does that answer your question? ;-)
1152, no worries, let's see if I can answer your questions:
1) Yes, he had grown up there decades ago, and came back off and on to visit family. During the time he felt that God was calling him back to Doaktown, (while I had the blessing of working with him in Fredericton) he went through the Doaktown phone book and highlighted all the names he recognized, and started praying for them. Many on that list are now born again Christians, whereas they weren't when Dave arrived.
2) "Witnessing" is indeed a "Christian-ese" word, it means to go forth and tell others what you have "witnessed" of the Lord Jesus Christ, and what He's done in your own life, how He's "saved" you. Often it's just a simple conversation with a neighbour or co-worker, sometimes it involves going door-to-door, sometimes it involves a preacher on the street... you know those crazy guys with the Bibles in their hands? I was one of them. ;-)
Hope that helps.
At Sun Mar 07, 11:53:00 p.m. EST,
Ally D said…
God is doing amazing things in NB!
Thank you for sharing the video, and testimony, and encouragement. So often "witnessing" is a small gesture of kindness, an invitation to church, or a simple sentance on what God is doing through you. Hard to remember that it doesn't all have to be grand gestures!
At Mon Mar 08, 12:35:00 a.m. EST,
Anon1152 said…
CC:
That is helpful.
Many thanks,
-Anon1152
At Mon Mar 08, 01:12:00 a.m. EST,
Anonymous said…
So he recruited people to his church is his claim to fame?
At Mon Mar 08, 09:13:00 a.m. EST,
Christian Conservative said…
"recruited" is such a worldly way of looking at this... from a Heavenly and Eternal perspective, he was used of God to bring them to repentance of sins and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It matters not where they attend church after that point, and in fact, Dave's lead many to the Lord who fellowship elsewhere.
The number of people in the pew on Sunday does not mean ANYTHING... the number of people that are praising God in His Kingdom that you've been a part of bringing to faith is what's more important.
At Mon Mar 08, 11:50:00 a.m. EST,
Anonymous said…
K.
Again his claim to fame is having people attend religious services, somewhere and through an Iron Age religion worship the invisible man in the sky. You do realize of course that there is no evidence that JC existed at all, right?
At Mon Mar 08, 12:48:00 p.m. EST,
Christian Conservative said…
"You do realize of course that there is no evidence that JC existed at all, right?"
Try telling that to most ancient historians, and they'll laugh you right out of the room. While there's indeed lots of debate about exactly who He was, and what He did, or what He did or did not actually say, there's little debate whatsoever about His EXISTANCE.
At Wed Apr 07, 08:53:00 p.m. EDT,
Christian Conservative said…
Anon on April 7th... I will not publish your slanderous accusations of the Evil One... comment rejected.
If you have something to say, put your name to it.
At Wed Apr 07, 10:36:00 p.m. EDT,
Anon1152 said…
May I ask two questions out of curiosity?
I don't want/need to know what was said. That would defeat the purpose of rejecting the comment... But... Is the "Evil One" the devil, or someone else, like Michael Ignatieff?
Also... was Anon slandering "the evil one", as in, the evil one might sue him, or was he making slanderous accusations that you attribute to the evil one? (I mean, is "the evil one" the one who is ultimately guilty?)
I guess the answer to the first question might answer the second question... but... you never know.
Best,
-Anon1152
At Wed Apr 07, 11:28:00 p.m. EDT,
Christian Conservative said…
Yes 1152, the "Evil One" is indeed the Devil... and I'd NEVER joke about equating ANYONE with him.
The commenter made a derogatory and inflamitory comment about my friend, anonymously, and without any proof. And I don't post slander.
At Fri Aug 26, 10:36:00 a.m. EDT,
Jeff Dixon said…
To the person who left the comment of March 6th. I have known Dave and Lisa Storey for years and can tell you that they are sold out for Christ. Hundreds of people owe their salvation to God's work through Dave and Lisa. At least five churches have been planted, pastors trained, existing works revived, folks in need helped. It's a long list of sacrifice for Jesus. They have held nothing back and I would "go to war" with Dave for the things of The Faith on any day of the week he needs my help and for long as it would take.Dave and Lisa are the real deal and no one who knows them thinks otherwise. You are gravely mistaken in your "critical speculation."
Jeff Dixon
Riverview, NB
Post a Comment
<< Home